A Lesson on Challenges

After school yesterday, Toe and I went to the playground. After showing me various parts of the play structures, Toe began climbing a little. He kept getting nervous when he reached about five feet off the ground. I offered to "spot" him, and he accepted.

For the next thirty minutes, I was absolutely baffled by our experience. I encouraged Toe to push himself, talking him through foot and hand placement, and standing underneath him just in case. Toe was so scared, his whole body was shaking. I offered multiple times for him to stop, but he said he wanted to push himself. Pretty soon he started crying. He stood there and shook as the tears ran down his face. I tried to help him down but he told me that NO, he wanted to do it. When he made it through once, he turned around and tried it again, still shaking. When he became comfortable with something, he moved on to something else that scared him. More shaking and tears ensued.

After thirty minutes, Toe was ready to stop, having tried at least three new climbing areas and pushing himself each time. If it had been me, I would have been exhausted from the emotional output.

I was really proud of him for challenging himself. Toe often tends to take the easiest route and not push himself. More importantly, HE was proud of himself. He had set challenges and pushed well past his comfort zone. I think it was important for both of us to have an experience where I was supporting him but not pushing, and where he was pushing himself. Hard to watch as a mother;  well worth the effort on his part.

Toe's comment on the whole thing? "It's so much easier going up than coming down!"